PHL105Y Introduction to Philosophy

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PHL105Y Introduction to Philosophy

• Your instructor Jennifer Nagel
• Her office 285 North Building, 905-828-2755
• Her office hours MW 1-2 and by appointment
• Our course website http//www.erin.utoronto.ca/j
  nagel/105/intro.htm
• Announcements
• 1. Friday tutorials begin September 22.
• 2. You do not have to write everything down.
  These PowerPoint slides will be posted to the
  course website within 24 hours after each lecture.

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Hey, why not post the PowerPoint slides to the
website before the lecture?
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G_N_ _AT_ _N
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G_N_RAT_ _N
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GEN_RAT_ON
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GENERATION

• The generation effect it is easier to recall
  answers youve had to generate yourself than
  answers youve just read

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How do we sign up for those Friday tutorials?

• And why?
• What are tutorials, anyway?

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Tutorials are a vital part of this philosophy
course

• Youll meet with smaller (max 25) groups of
  students to discuss the material, clear up any
  confusions, get advice on writing assignments,
  and argue about philosophy.
• Youll hand in a brief (roughly one page) written
  assignment every week (these are spot-checked and
  count for 10 of your final grade).
• Oral participation in tutorial counts for 5 of
  your final grade.

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Getting In

• As of today 36 of registered students still
  needed to sign up for a tutorial (good news only
  one of the 7 Friday sections is full, but act
  fast to get better selection).
• Sign up for discussion/tutorial sections on CCNet
  (not ROSI) follow the CCNet link from the
  course home page, and then click on the left-hand
  sidebar where it says Students.
• Mess around in the Personal Profile section
  until you see Tutorial Registration.
• If you choose the wrong thing, you can move
  yourself to another tutorial later (as long as
  there is space). Make up your mind by September
  22. Dont switch mid-year without letting me and
  your TA know about it.
• Ill review tutorial registration live on
  Wednesday.

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What will we study in this course?

• A series of major classical and contemporary
  philosophical texts, addressing questions such
  as

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What is real?
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What is knowledge?
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Is it possible to give a rational proof that God
exists?
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Are human beings free?(And what is freedom?)
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What well read

• Fall term (books now available at UTM Bookstore)
• Vaughn, Writing Philosophy
• Plato, Five Dialogues
• Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy
• Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
• Spring term (buy these books in January)
• Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding,
  continued, plus Dialogues Concerning Natural
  Religion
• Sorensen, A Brief History of the Paradox
• A reader of contemporary essays

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Do these bits of advicecontradict each other?

• 1. Master the classics! Study what great thinkers
  like Plato, Descartes and Hume have said about
  the central questions of philosophy.
• 2. Be original! Think up your own answers to such
  questions.

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What is a paradox?
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Example the paradox of the liar

• This sentence is false.

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For Wednesdays class

• Read chapters 1 and 2 of Lewis Vaughns Writing
  Philosophy